Hess v. Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation, 513 U.S. 30, 8 (1994)

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Cite as: 513 U. S. 30 (1994)

Opinion of the Court

The Governor of each State may veto actions of the Port Authority commissioners from that State, including actions taken as PATH directors. See N. J. Stat. Ann. §§ 32:1-17, 32:1-35.61, 32:2-6 to 32:2-9 (West 1990); N. Y. Unconsol. Law §§ 6417, 6612, 7151-7154 (McKinney 1979). Acting jointly, the state legislatures may augment the powers and responsibilities of the Port Authority, see N. J. Stat. Ann. § 32:1-8 (West 1990); N. Y. Unconsol. Law § 6408 (McKinney 1979), and specify the purposes for which the Port Authority's surplus revenues are used. See N. J. Stat. Ann. § 32:1-35.142 (West 1990); N. Y. Unconsol. Law § 7002 (McKinney 1979).

Debts and other obligations of the Port Authority are not liabilities of the two founding States, and the States do not appropriate funds to the Authority. The compact and its implementing legislation bar the Port Authority from drawing on state tax revenue, pledging the credit of either State, or otherwise imposing any charge on either State. See N. J. Stat. Ann. §§ 32:1-8, 32:1-33 (West 1990); N. Y. Unconsol. Law §§ 6408, 6459 (McKinney 1979).

The States did agree to appropriate sums to cover the Authority's "salaries, office and other administrative expenses," N. J. Stat. Ann. § 32:1-16 (West 1990); N. Y. Unconsol. Law § 6416 (McKinney 1979), but this undertaking is notably modest.7 By its terms, it applies only "until the revenues from operations conducted by the [P]ort [A]uthority are adequate to meet all expenditures." The promise of support has a low ceiling: $100,000 annually from each State. Thus, the States in no way undertake to cover the bulk of the Author-7 Compact article XV, the provision for expense coverage, reads in full: "Unless and until the revenues from operations conducted by the [P]ort [A]uthority are adequate to meet all expenditures, the legislatures of the two states shall appropriate, in equal amounts, annually, for the salaries, office and other administrative expenses, such sum or sums as shall be recommended by the [P]ort [A]uthority and approved by the governors of the two states, but each state obligates itself hereunder only to the extent of one hundred thousand dollars in any one year." N. J. Stat. Ann. § 32:1-16 (West 1990); N. Y. Unconsol. Law § 6416 (McKinney 1979).

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